(Watch the referred to video here.)
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A few weeks back, I watched a video that had been
generating a lot of buzz on social media websites. It was a holiday video produced by WestJet
Airlines that documented an incredible event that the company organized and
executed. In two separate airports in
Canada, the company set up a large box with a TV screen on one of its
sides. It also had a place where you
could scan the boarding pass for your flight.
When someone did, Santa Claus appeared live on the TV screen and
interacted with them. Behind the scenes,
airline workers pulled up information on the person standing there so Santa
could seem like he knew who was there.
Then he did what Santa always does and he asked the person or family
(especially the kids) what they wanted for Christmas.
A hidden camera recorded the reactions of the people who
interacted with Santa. Most were
surprised when Santa knew their names and, when asked what they wanted for
Christmas, most of them asked for something that they thought they would never
get. Well, little did they know that the
WestJet team was recording their answers and what they did next was simply
amazing. While these passengers were on
their flights (each to the opposite airport), a team of the airline’s employees
went out and purchased all of the things that the passengers asked for, wrapped
them up and prepared to deliver them when those passengers arrived at their
destination. When the passengers
disembarked and went to claim their luggage, they found that presents were
delivered to them instead: all of the things that they had asked for from
Santa. It’s really a beautiful moment as
you see people completely caught off-guard by the joy of receiving such an
unexpected and seemingly miraculous gift.
In our first reading today, Ahaz, the King of Judah, is
being invited to ask for a sign from God through which God would assure him of
his protection against a foreign army that is threatening to conquer
Judah. The prophet Isaiah has told Ahaz
that the Lord has promised to preserve him as king as long as he surrenders to
this invading force. Ahaz, however,
would rather make an alliance with the powerful Egyptian army to the south in
the hopes of protecting his kingdom. Knowing
that God would produce whatever sign he asked for, thus forcing him to
surrender to the invading army, Ahaz refuses to ask for one, claiming that he
would rather not test the Lord. In
reality, he was afraid of what he would have to do if he placed all his trust
in the Lord and so he refused to do it.
Instead of opening himself up to being surprised by a miracle from the
Lord, Ahaz closed himself off to it.
We can sometimes be the same way. Three full weeks now into Advent and we’ve
probably spent more time trying to remove any chance for a surprise from our
holiday schedule than we have opened ourselves up to one. Christmas wish lists, party invitation
rosters, and carefully tabulated shopping protocols leave very little room to
be surprised by joy. For three weeks now
the Liturgy has been inviting us to make space in our lives where God can
surprise us with joy (and then to ask for it!), but we would rather stick to
our own plans—our worldly securities—than to open ourselves to what God might
ask of us if we place our trust in him.
Like Ahaz, we’d rather not “test the Lord.”
In spite of Ahaz’s reluctance to trust in God and to ask
for a sign, God decides to give one to him anyway. And, in spite of how we have re-interpreted
the sign to apply it to the virginal conception of Jesus by Mary, the sign that
Isaiah called for was meant to be a sign for Ahaz in his time. The miraculous
birth from a virgin would be that sign and he would be named Emmanuel so as to
be a reminder to Ahaz and the whole house of David that God was truly with
them.
This Christmas and every Christmas God is making the same
offer to us. Regardless of whether or
not we are open to asking for it, the Liturgy draws us once again to a
remembrance of the sign that God has offered us: a child, born of a virgin, who
is God, and who has saved us from our sins.
This child truly is Emmanuel, the enduring presence of God with us, who
is the constant reminder that God has not and will not abandon us to our
enemies.
King Ahaz, because he refused to place his trust in God and
open himself to be surprised by God’s generosity, died before he could ever see
God’s promised sign become a reality. He
aligned himself with the Egyptian forces and was overrun by the Assyrian army
anyway. Our fate will be much the same
unless we can open ourselves to be surprised by God’s generosity this
Christmas. If we keep allowing ourselves
to get caught up in our own plans and our own priorities instead of looking for
God’s sign among us, then we, too, may die before we ever experience the joy of
being surprised by God—a joy like those airline passengers experienced on that
special day—the joy of seeing life itself born right here in our midst.
And so, my brothers and sisters, the question to us today
is, “What do you want for
Christmas?” Go ahead. “Let it be deep as the netherworld or high as
the sky.” You might just be surprised by
what you get.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport,
IN – December 22nd, 2013
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